The decision: Should I go in a different direction with my professional life?

Most of our small business clients used to work for someone else. They may own their own business now, but very few of them came out of high school or college, and started their own company immediately. So, at one point, they had the same question many prospective business owners have: How do I take a new career for a test drive, so I can be sure that I actually like it?

It’s a great question; how do I take a new career for a test drive when I still have to work at my regular job and pay the bills every month?

Well, here are some ways that you can do that:

• Make your intended vocation your avocation – Read everything you can about it, on blogs, in the news media, listen to podcasts, etc. Become an expert through study and absorption.
• Volunteer or freelance – a paid or unpaid “side hustle” allows you to learn on the job.
• Intern somewhere – Great way to not only learn the kind of job you desire to have in the company you want to start, but to see the sorts of people that are in that field.
• Join a project team at your current company that is doing what you want to do – OK, not really an option if you’re writing code where you work, and you want to start an organic beet farm, but, certainly an option if you are in business planning and want to do digital marketing. Get on that project team that is doing both.
• A certificate course or a class – Not the real world, maybe, but hopefully, close enough to give you a feel for what will happen out there in the real world.
• Shadow someone – work that network of yours, and find someone that’s doing what you want to do, and persuade them to let you shadow them for a day. Or two, maybe. Then, take a vacation day and do it!

Do one of these, or two of these, or all of these – check out the thing you want to do. Take a new career for a test drive!